The homeless man who was given a pair of boots by a kindhearted New York City police officer apparently isn't homeless. According to the New York Daily News, Jeffrey Hillman, 54, has an apartment in the Bronx that is paid for via a combination of rent vouchers, Social Security, and military veteran benefits.

The USA is in unknown territory in terms of understand what our population really needs. We have unlimited demand at food banks, yet the fattest population on the planet. Everyone can go to college, yet we are bankrupting ourselves with school debt. We give boots to the homeless, but turns out they aren’t homeless.

In my building there’s a guy who collects disability benefits and has subsidized rent. Every day he can be seen a few blocks from here panhandling while sitting in a wheelchair. At the end of the day he gets up, pushes the wheelchair home, then carries it up the stairs to his apartment on the 4th floor.

Personally I don't care if the shoeless man had a million dollars, the picture and the story is all about the kindness of the cop. If one chooses to give to someone else it should not be about whether or not the person we give to actually “deserves” the gift.

17
posted on 12/05/2012 7:03:56 AM PST
by pepperdog
( I still get a thrill up my leg when spell check doesn't recognize the name/word Obama!)

This deal where panhandlers do not live on the street has been the norm for a long time. People begging nowadays almost never live in a cardboard box like they used to. Most have government assistance. They are simply taking a little initiative to bolster the income they get from the government. Many have enough drug and disease problems that they could not really get a real job, but certainly all of them don’t try to earn on the side. Some actually try to do odd jobs here and there on the side to make money. Rotted out teeth on a relatively young person typically means a lot of drugs. Hanging on the streets begging, however, does put them at risk if they look like they have anything worth money on them, or drugs on them, or money on them. The more violent folks on the street will rob other street people. Shelters can be unsafe for them. Giving them a lot of money, or a nice pair of boots like the cop gave the dude, is dangerous for them. And, word can spread quickly if you give someone a lot of money, and you may find much more aggressive panhandlers coming up to you and being very pushy.

Every day he can be seen a few blocks from here panhandling while sitting in a wheelchair. At the end of the day he gets up, pushes the wheelchair home,

I used to give to the people begging on the street until one day while going to work I saw the man who daily sat on his flat board with rollers roll into the entrance of a shop, get up and comb his hair in the mirrored display case. That ended my giving on the streets. There are good, caring, charitable people in America and there are those who would gladly scam them. That’s been happening since the beginning of time. It’s a shame.

Yes, if you choose to look at it like that. I choose not to. If you dig deep enough in every feel good story you’ll doubtless find some things that tarnish it. I choose to feel good about the compassionate heart of a man.

24
posted on 12/05/2012 7:13:29 AM PST
by pepperdog
( I still get a thrill up my leg when spell check doesn't recognize the name/word Obama!)

He didnt really want shoes, he just wanted a few bucks from each passerby.

That is so true. Sadly I quit ALL "donation" to everything. I have tried to give a "homeless and hungry" man lunch to be told, "I don't want yo samich, you got a couple of bucks?" been told to "keep your damn food" etc.. I am guessing they really werent that hungry. I have seen kids in South America dang near kill each other for a pack of M&Ms.

I give to our church and let them decide the best way to help out in the local community, and in the mission field.

It is sad when pan handling becomes a job, and way of life. Stories like this make it hard for people to care.

25
posted on 12/05/2012 7:14:23 AM PST
by DYngbld
(I have read the back of the Book and we WIN!!!!)

“In my building theres a guy who collects disability benefits and has subsidized rent. Every day he can be seen a few blocks from here panhandling while sitting in a wheelchair. At the end of the day he gets up, pushes the wheelchair home, then carries it up the stairs to his apartment on the 4th floor.”

Why don’t you take pictures and video then report him for disability fraud?

31
posted on 12/05/2012 7:26:30 AM PST
by Brooklyn Attitude
(Obama being re-elected is the political equivalent of OJ being found not guilty.)

I believe there was a Papal encyclical a few years back that touted the necessity of linking charity to “understanding”. This caught my eye because I am Buddhist, and our view is the same. Many people, even some Buddhist practitioners, equate Buddhism with an all-out, unthinking compassion. But the correct understanding is that, just as a bird cannot fly with only one wing, virtuous behavior is only possible with a union of compassion and wisdom.

36
posted on 12/05/2012 7:32:44 AM PST
by dagogo redux
(A whiff of primitive spirits in the air, harbingers of an impending descent into the feral.)

Really, the concept of “financial security” doesn’t exist.
Even if you have enough in “savings” to last you the rest of your life, with enough “quantitative easing”, that can be worthless in a couple of years.

Our only security lies in God, ultimately. He’s the only thing that can’t be shaken.

41
posted on 12/05/2012 7:45:55 AM PST
by MrB
(The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)

Funny story. A guy came into the Firehouse one day panhandling. One of the Firefighters , a black guy, really nice guy good Fireman, nice man,told him if he was hungry he would fix him some soup.

The Firefighter sat the guy down fixed him some soup, and just as the panhandler sat down to eat it we got a run.

When we came back the Firefighters shoes were gone, and the soup was still on the table. I won’t soon forget the Firefighter walking the streets in his long boots looking for the guy who stole his shoes.

"Yes, if you choose to look at it like that. I choose not to. If you dig deep enough in every feel good story youll doubtless find some things that tarnish it. I choose to feel good about the compassionate heart of a man."

Yes, and complete with the photographer who just happens to be the supervisor of a police call center.

Actually, it’s not an apartment, it’s a townhouse in a private mews, and he’s not panhandling, he sells newspapers - partly out of the performer’s desperation to have an audience, and partly because he hasn’t been right on the head since his wife died two years ago.

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